The U.S.A. Pat. No. 3,405,795 of the same applicant relates to an apparatus for stowing and conveying articles, particularly for use in parking motor vehicles, comprising at least one plurality of supporting and conveying units mutually interconnected at predetermined intervals, movable in a continuously horizontal position on an endless runway formed by fixed tracks for guiding the supporting members of said units. The most important characteristics of this apparatus, ad claimed by said patent, are as follows:
CONTINUITY OF SUPPORT BY SAID TRACKS AND BY AUXILIARY FIXED MEANS ASSOCIATED THEREWITH IS PROVIDED FOR THE SUPPORTING AND CONVEYING UNITS THROUGH THE WHOLE RUNWAY, THE MEANS FOR INTERCONNECTING THE UNITS ALSO SERVING TO PRODUCE THE CONTROL MOVEMENTS;
SAID SUPPORTING UNITS ARE CONSTITUTED BY CARRIAGES PROVIDED WITH WHEELS FOR THEIR SUPPORT ON SAID TRACKS, SAID TRACKS COMPRISING ON EACH SIDE OF THE CARRIAGES A PAIR OF PARALLEL HORIZONTAL LENGTHS, COMMON TO THE TWO WHEELS ON THE SAID SIDE, AND FOUR PAIRS OF INCLINED PARALLEL LENGTHS, WHICH DIVERGE OUTWARDLY SUBSTANTIALLY AT THE ENDS OF THE SAID HORIZONTAL LENGTHS WITH EQUAL AND OPPOSITE INCLINATIONS, ONE FOR EACH WHEEL ON THE SAME SIDE;
SAID FIXED MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH THE TRACKS ARE CONSTITUTED BY PAIRS OF WHEELS, MOUNTED IDLE IN THE CONNECTION REGION OF THE UPPER HORIZONTAL TRACK LENGTH WITH THE TWO INCLINED LENGTHS, AND APT TO SUPPORT THAT CARRIAGE END WHICH HAS LEFT THE TRACK IN THE GAP THEREIN;
THE MEANS FOR INTERCONNECTING AND MOVING THE CARRIAGES ARE CONSTITUTED BY ROTATING CHAINS, MOUNTED OFFSET ON THE TRACKS ON ONE SIDE AND THE OTHER OF THE CARRIAGES, AND EACH BEING CONNECTED TO ONE OF THE TWO CARRIAGE AXLES;
The individual loads are transferred from the carriages to the loading and unloading level and viceversa by elevators situated within the endless runway of the supporting unit, said elevators being capable of vertically moving the supporting floors of the carriages with their load and, in the event that the apparatus should comprise various pluralities of concentric supporting units, of passing through the carriages without said floor provided in each plurality.
The apparatus described in U.S.A. Pat. No. 3,405,795 is essentially an apparatus contained in a reinforced concrete or metal cage, arranged below ground level, although the said patent specification explicitly provides also for its surface installation.
The practical construction of this apparatus and the increasing requirements of mechanisation and speed of operation in the field of goods storage and vehicle stowing , have led to further study and improve the apparatus itself.
In the course of these studies, substantial improvements have been obtained, which have enabled the apparatus for stowing and conveying articles, as heretofore defined, to be improved structurally and operationally, and to make its field of possible application much wider.